Institute for Disability Studies
Family Health Notes
October 2014
Inside this issue:
1) New F2F Parent/Family Liaison
2) Mississippi General Election Voter Registration Deadline – Oct. 4, 12 Noon
3) Eudora Welty Library Autism Resource Center Grand Opening – Jackson, Oct. 9
4) Jackson State University Focus Group Session for Parents of Children with Autism – Jackson, Oct. 15
5) City of Jackson Disability Awareness Day – Jackson, Oct. 22
6) IDS Gulf Park Campus Fall into Fun! – Long Beach, Oct. 27
7) Health Insurance Marketplace 2015 Enrollment Dates
8) Family-Centered Care Assessment
_______________________________________________________________
1) New F2F Parent/Family Liaison
Keishawna A. Smith has joined The University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies as parent/family liaison for the Mississippi Family to Family Health Information and Education Center (MS F2F), the state’s Family-to-Family Health and Information Center (F2FHIC). Shawn and her husband have two children, both living with Sickle Cell Disease, type SS. She began her work in the disability community when her first child was born in Texas. She started a parent support group in her community because she saw so many parents going to doctor’s visits and not understanding what sickle cell was and how it was affecting their children. She decided to gather as much information on the subject since this was all new to her also. At each group meeting, the parents talked about their experiences and solutions or what resources they had found. When Shawn’s family moved back home to Mississippi, she became involved with the Mississippi Parent Training and Information Center (MS PTI), eventually as a parent educator/advocate where she educated parents about their rights and responsibilities under IDEA/ADA. She has collaborated with the Mississippi Department of Education, the Mississippi disAbility Mega Conference, LIFE of Mississippi, Hinds County Human Resource Agency (Head Start), The Arc of Mississippi and Parents for Public Schools. As parent/family liaison for MS F2F, Shawn’s goal is to help parents become better advocates for their own children and their communities. She wants to make sure parents are involved in their children’s health, education and overall well-being. Shawn is available for one-on-one consultations on health information and resources for children with special health care needs. For the MS F2F Center, call toll free, 1.866.883.4474.
2) Mississippi General Election Voter Registration Deadline – Oct. 4, 12 Noon
The voter registration deadline for the State of Mississippi is Sat., Oct. 4. Circuit clerk offices must remain open from 8 a.m. until noon. Mail-in registration applications must be postmarked no later than Sat., Oct. 4.
3) Eudora Welty Library Autism Resource Center Grand Opening – Jackson, Oct. 9
The Eudora Welty Library announces the grand opening of its Autism Resource Center. Dan Weiss, director of the Fanwood Library in Maplewood, New Jersey, and co-developer of Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected, will speak on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 11 a.m. Libraries and Autism is an award-winning project that has produced a customer service training video and website primarily for library staff to help them serve individuals with autism and their families.
4) Jackson State University Focus Group Session for Parents of Children with Autism – Jackson, Oct. 15
Health promotion and behavioral health researchers at Jackson State University are conducting a focus group session to better understand parents’ participation habits in special needs support groups and their influence on health outcomes for their child with special healthcare needs. If you participate, you will attend a one-hour focus group session to answer and discuss questions related to parents and their use of support groups. For more information, call 601.291.2217.
5) City of Jackson Disability Awareness Day – Jackson, Oct. 22
Disability Awareness Day is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 22, at Metrocenter Mall Center Court. Registration starts at 9 a.m. and the conference starts at 9:30 a.m. The expo will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Disability Awareness Day is designed to increase public awareness and provide an opportunity for increased services to people with disabilities. The day is sponsored by United Healthcare, BankPlus, United Way and the City of Jackson. For additional information, call Sam Gleese, ADA coordinator for the City of Jackson, at 601.960.1572.
6) IDS Gulf Park Campus Fall into Fun! – Long Beach, Oct. 27
Gulf coast ghosts and goblins will be welcomed at the Institute for Disability Studies’ (IDS) Gulf Park campus in Long Beach for some fall fun on Wednesday, Oct. 27 from 3 to 5 p.m. Come dressed in a costume and decorate a pumpkin from the patch in the park. IDS Gulf Park is located on the Gulf Park campus of The University of Southern Mississippi at 730 East Beach Boulevard in Long Beach. For more information, call 228.214.3400.
7) Health Insurance Marketplace 2015 Enrollment Dates
The next Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment period for 2015 is just around the corner. Key dates to remember are Nov. 15, 2014 – open enrollment begins; Dec. 15, 2014 – you must enroll by this date for new coverage to begin in Jan. 1, 2015; Dec. 31, 2014 – coverage ends for 2014 plans; and Feb. 15, 2015 – the last day you can apply for 2015 coverage. For additional information, visit www.healthcare.gov.
8) Family-Centered Care Assessment
Did you know that family-centered care can improve patient and family outcomes, increase satisfaction, decrease health care costs, and lead to more effective use of health care resources? You can learn more about what makes health care family-centered by using the Family-Centered Care Assessment Tool, a 24-question tool to measure the family centeredness of provider care based on ideas created by families themselves. For more information, visit http://www.fv-ncfpp.org/activities/fcca/fcca-families/. To download a copy of the tool, visit http://www.fv-ncfpp.org/files/5113/0626/9069/fcca_FamilyTool.pdf. A tool for providers is available at http://www.fv-ncfpp.org/files/4113/0626/9064/fcca_ProviderTool.pdf.
***PLEASE NOTE: If you are unable to access any of the links in Family Health Notes, please make sure the entire link is highlighted. If a link is not highlighted, please copy and paste the entire link into your Web browser.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Family Health Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Family Health Notes is sponsored by the Institute for Disability Studies (IDS), Mississippi’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at The University of Southern Mississippi. IDS provides university training, community service activities, research and information that promote the independence, productivity, and community inclusion of individuals with disabilities and their families. For more information about IDS, visit www.usm/edu/ids or call 1.888.671.0051 (TTY). To make a tax-deductible gift to IDS, visit www.usm.edu/ids/supportus.html.
The Family-to-Family Health Information and Education Center (F2F) is a family-focused, family managed resource center that empowers families of Mississippi children with special health care needs to be partners in the decisions made concerning the health of their children. F2F is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (GR#H84MC07948).
***********************************
SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
***********************************
TO SUBSCRIBE
If this mailing was forwarded to you and you are not already subscribed to Family Health Notes, here’s how you can become a subscriber:
Sign up online at https://mailman.usm.edu/mailman/listinfo/familyhealthnotes
TO UNSUBSCRIBE
Unsubscribe online at https://mailman.usm.edu/mailman/listinfo/familyhealthnotes and login with your email address and your password. If you do not have a password (they are emailed to members at the beginning of every month), contact one of the administrators listed below.
****************************************
Please visit the IDS Calendar of Events at http://www.usm.edu/ids/calevents/.
Questions may be addressed to
OR
_______________________________________________
Family Health Notes mailing list